U.S. To Resume HH-60 Helicopter Operations After Fatal Crash

The U.S. military said Wednesday it will resume flight operations of its HH-60 helicopters on the southern island prefecture of Okinawa from Friday after they were suspended at Japan’s request following a crash last week.

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U.S. troops onboard an Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter.

On Aug. 5, a HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter with four crew members crashed in a mountainous area near the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Hansen, reportedly about 2 kilometers from the nearest residential area. Three were injured, while one crew member died.

“To this point, we have found no evidence that would indicate a fleet wide concern,” said Brig. Gen. James Hecker, 18th Wing commander at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

He said the 18th Wing conducted a thorough inspection of the helicopters, involving more than 200 service members.

“Our investigation will continue in order to identify the specific cause of last week’s accident, but because of our very thorough inspection of every aircraft and the additional aircrew instruction we conducted, we are confident in our ability to safely resume operational and training flights,” Gen. Hecker said.

The decision to resume HH-60 operations is expected to draw further criticism from Okinawa residents, who have protested the crash and called for the suspension of military drills. The announcement follows Monday’s decision by the U.S. military to resume the delivery of its MV-22 Osprey aircraft to Okinawa from Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture in the wake of last week’s crash. Okinawa has long voiced its opposition to the deployment of the Ospreys over concerns about their safety record.

An official for the village of Ginoza, which hosts part of Camp Hansen, cited Mayor Atsushi Toma as voicing strong opposition toward the decision.

“We cannot accept the resumption of drills when there hasn’t been an explanation on the cause of the accident or on preventive measures,” the official quoted the mayor as saying.

On Tuesday, the assembly for Naha, the prefecture’s capital city, passed a resolution protesting the helicopter crash and deployment of the Ospreys.

The U.S. military says the helicopter’s primary mission is to “conduct day or night personnel recovery operations. It also supports civil search and rescue, medical evacuation, disaster response and humanitarian assistance.”